The 5 - 11 Axis in Jyotish

If we want to consider the strength of the 5th house, we must also consider the 11th house, or, at least, the planets in the 11th house because they will fully aspect the 5th house. The same thing applies to the 11th house - we must also consider the planets in the 5th house. Let's look at the chart of a client of mine - Chart #1.

This client has 4 planets in the 11th house - Venus, Sun, Saturn and Mercury in Libra and no planets in the 5th house. Guess how many children she has? You've got it - four. Also she is a very fine writer - something that would not be expected from the 11th house alone but might be expected from a strong house of the Mind (5th house).

Take another example - Chart #2. It has the Sun, Venus and Rahu in the 5th house in Taurus and the Moon (debilitated) and Ketu in the 11th house. It is running the Moon dasha, Ketu bhukti. Quite a lot is happening with friends, income and major goals and desires (11th house stuff) and also with step daughters, mantras, investments and natural cures (all items relating to the 5th house).

What do the 5th house and the 11th house have in common? Money. The 11th house is called the Labha Stana (the house of gains) and the 5th house is called the Putra Stana (house of children). However, the 5th house is also the house of Purva Punya - the place of past life credit. In the Hindu view, it is considered a great blessing to have children - Purva Punya. Mental acuity or even genius are largely indicated in the 5th house - Poorva Punya. Sudden gains through investments or gambling - 5th house. Is that Poorva Punya? You bet. The 5th house is the house of disciples and/or discipleship. To be able to find a perfect guru is perhaps the greatest blessing that one can attain in this life. This blessing comes from the Trikona houses - 5th and 9th. The guru is associated with the 9th house and being initiated and formally receiving a mantra will be indicated, to quite an extent, by the 5th house.

Now, the 11th house rules gains - income, money from friends, major life desires and the ability (and luck) to attain them. Where do you think that luck, that ability to gain income, comes from? You guessed it - the 5th house (and the 9th house, which is, after all, a secondary 5th house being the 5th from the 5th.) So, if one does not have a good 5th house, most likely one will not have children (or only get grief from children) and one will also not have a clear mind. No clear mind indicates a lack of ability (considering probabilities) to gain a good income. Furthermore, to be able to attain one's life desires, one also needs a clear mind, good past life credit, and (most likely) to be a good "disciple" as one must gain skills from someone. All of these qualities are 5th house stuff. Also the 5th house is the house of creativity. Business and gaining wealth require creativity as much as painting, music and acting. How does one become successful in business? Discipline? Certainly. Luck? Of course. But ALSO creativity is sorely needed. What do they say about starting your own business? Either find a need and fill it or, even better, create a need and then fill it. (Discipline, by the way, is the flip side of Discipleship).

These principles of opposite house pairings will probably also apply equally to some of the other pairs of houses in the chart: 1 - 7, 4 - 10, and possibly 6 - 12. The reason I did not include 2 - 8 and 3 - 9 is that each of these pairs has one "bad" house and one "good" house. Sometimes I think that the house across from the house in question (say, the 5th house when one is considering the 11th house) has more effect on the house in question than the planets in the house itself. At the very least, one must give near equal status to the opposite planets as to the planets in the house under scrutiny themselves. Of course, one must also look at the strength of the planets in the 11th house (or 5th house) in the Navamsha chart as well. In Chart #2, Venus is in its own sign in the Rashi chart but is neecha (debilitated) in the Navamsha chart. Therefore, no marriage in the Venus dasha. Also, one should check the strength of the planet being considered in the Varga chart of the issue under consideration (say, the Dashamsha chart when looking at career or the Saptamsha chart [D-7] for children). In brief, there are two main ways to consider strength in the varga charts: house placement and sign placement. Being in houses 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 is good. Houses 2 and 11 are pretty good. Houses 3, 6, 8 and 12 are bad. Being in one's own sign or exalted is good. Being in the sign of debilitation is weak. Other signs vary.

Hopefully, this article has given you a flavor of how to analyze the pairs of houses.